What If My Ex-Spouse Won't Pay Child Support?

Jacksonville Divorce Lawyers Taking Action

If you are encountering the struggle of an ex-spouse not paying
child support, the law is on your side. There are many reasons that situations like
this arise; unforeseen changes in financial circumstances is a frequent
reason for non-payment situations. Other causes include tactics in order
to gain visitation with the children or payback as a way of punishing
the ex-spouse for ulterior reasons.

Fortunately, there are many actions that can be taken if your ex-spouse
is able, but refusing, to make child support payments:

Contempt of Court Action: when the ex-spouse is intentionally violating the child support order.
If he or she lacks cause for not paying child support it is punishable
by 180 days in jail.

Wage Order Assignment: the state Child Support Division can order your ex's employer to withhold
part of his wages for child support payments; the wages will go straight
to the custodial parent.

Tax Intercept: interception of the parent's federal and state tax refunds as payment
for child support

Driver's License Suspension: Child Support Division can suspend driver's licenses until payments are made

Seizing Property: taking of the parent's property until payments are made.

Suspending an Occupational License: Child Support Division can suspend these licenses until payments are made

There are many ways to force an ex-spouse to make child support payments
when they are refusing to make them willingly. Ideally, there is a cooperative
relationship between you and your ex-spouse, but if there is not, the
law is in your favor.

What if my ex-spouse moves to a different state?

There are more severe measures that can be taken if an ex-spouse is running
from the child support payments. Often times the parent not paying the
child support will run or hide from the custodial parent to escape payments.
Sometimes they may even move to other states in order to avoid being found.
The federal government created the Parent Locator Service as a solution
to this problem.

This program allows the federal government to use outside resources such
as the Social Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service
to track down the nonpaying parent's employer. When the parent is found,
the child support order is enforced and the unpaid child support will
be collected.

There are various other solutions to ensure that you receive child support
payments if your ex-spouse moves out of state. The Uniform Interstate
Family Support Act allows you to be able to take action to collect child
support in situations like this.

Some options include:

If your state has personal jurisdiction over you ex-spouse, the court can
enforce child support on him or her.

If your state does not have personal jurisdiction over the ex-spouse, you
can ask the court in your state to forward the child support order to
the court of the state in which your ex lives. Then that state's court
can enforce child support payments on him or her.

You can personally go to a court in your ex-spouse's state and file an
enforcement of child support request.

You can send the order for child support to your ex-spouse's employer and
ask for the employer to garnish the wages from the ex's paychecks.

Penalties for Not Paying Child Support

There are several acts that penalize nonpaying parents. The Child Support
Recovery Act of 1992 makes it a federal crime for a parent to refuse to
pay child support to the custodial parent living in another state. There
is also the Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act of 1998, which makes it a
felony for a parent to refuse to pay child support to a parent in another
state. The penalties have increased in severity over time; parents who
do not pay child support are not tolerated and will experience consequences
for their actions.

There are federal and state laws punishing nonpaying parents:

Federal Child Support Recovery Act makes it a misdemeanor when a parent
accrues arrearage over $5,000 or when arrearage is not paid for over a year. 1st time offenders: failure to pay is a misdemeanor punishable by 6 months
in prison.

Subsequent offenders: failure to pay is punishable by 2 years in prison.

It is a felony to accrue an arrearage of over $10,000 or fail to pay your
arrearage of $5,000 or more for over 2 years. This felony is punishable
by 2 years in prison.

State law: failure to pay each payment may constitute contempt of court
action. The nonpaying parent can be charged for each payment that has
been unpaid. The parent will be incarcerated until all child support payments are made.

In order to be in contempt, the parent alleging contempt is required to
show proof that the nonpaying parent is able to pay child support or that
the parent is intentionally placing him or herself in the position of
not having the funds for child support payments in an attempt to not have to pay.

Divorce can be an emotional battle, and adding in an ex-spouse who refuses
to pay child support may create a financial battle as well, seek experienced
counsel and receive help.

The information on this website is for general information purposes only.
Nothing on this site should be taken as legal advice for any individual
case or situation. This information is not intended to create, and receipt
or viewing does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship.

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